Romantic Thursday Review: Gareth (Lord of Rakes) by Grace Burrowes

It’s Romantic Thursday with Bookmunchie! So why is Thursday romantic? Because I like Thursday and I like romance! Basically, I just love romance, in YA books, in adult, contemporary, historical, whichever the genre and sometimes I’m too lazy to write full reviews but I do love sharing fun quotes or just gushing about characters. So that’s what Romantic Thursday is for! To share my love. May it be through actual full reviews, quick reviews, or just fun quotes.

Felicity Worthington’s only hope of avoiding poverty—or worse—is to accept her distant cousin’s dubious bequest…a thriving, high-class brothel. Felicity has 90 days to convince her cousin’s solicitors that Gareth Alexander has taught her the art of pleasing a man, though she’s more interested in the gentleman she glimpses beneath Gareth’s debauched airs, than in the rake he’s become.

In the business of love…How much should he teach her?

Gareth Alexander, Marquis of Heathgate, has little incentive to help a spinster learn to manage a brothel—except that the alternatives for the prim, pretty Miss Worthington are even worse. His resistance to teaching Felicity how to be a madam leaves Gareth wondering if the honor he’d thought long dead still survives, and if that honor allows him to yield to the lady’s ruinous scheme…and to their shared desires.

Review:

Okay, I admit I request this book because it was called Gareth. Apparently I just have quite the fascination with the name (like I want to name my kid Gareth, kinda fascination). It might have been due to Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton novel It’s in His Kiss. I don’t even know. Anyway, to the review!

I haven’t read any Grace Burrowes before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The storyline was definitely intriguing and potentially very steamy. Felicity Worthington is left between a rock and a hard place. Not only has she’s inherited her cousin’s brothel but she also needs run it well (and therefore know the art of pleasing a man) or lose everything and leave her and her sister destitute. Problem is, if she successful achieves this, she’ll be ruined in the eyes on good society. Enter Lord Gareth Alexander, Marquis of Heathgate, the man finagled into helping Felicity. He’s a rake, but he’s also got a dark and tormented past. He just wants an open and close case with Felicity but Felicity has other intentions as she becomes intrigued by Gareth, by the man that he hides away from society but allows her glimpses of his true self.

Their relationship was interesting to me. It had very sweet moments and moments of revelations but also sometimes I was just very confused by their reasoning and actions. I just didn’t always get Gareth. But he did prove himself and got over his (some what irrational) reason of why he couldn’t be with Felicity (through some highly dramatic scenes!). There was also more to the plot than just the romance/building of Felicity and Gareth’s relationship which was pretty good. There’s a good mystery that’s fabricated into the story, a little jealousy and some revenge that I quite enjoyed.

We’re also introduced to Astrid (Felicity’s sister) and Andrew (Gareth’s brother) (their book is next!) which I’m excited to see Astrid wreck a little havoc on Andrew’s life. Despite really enjoying the storyline, I felt the thing that kept me from fully enjoying this book was I just couldn’t seem to connect with Felicity and Gareth. Overall, it was a good read and there’s a good chance I’ll be picking up more Grace Burrowes novels.

{* Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.